So finally the gloves have come off. GOP wingnuts, led by Richard Pombo (R-CA), have formally launched an attack on the Endangered Species Act.
"House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, a California Republican, is taking aim at the Endangered Species Act, the primary U.S. law for recovering species that are headed toward extinction. The congressman is marshalling his forces to rework the law in a way he says will strengthen it, but scientists and conservationists believe the planned changes will weaken the act to allow more industrial development."
This has been Pombo's calling for years. Now that he is head of the House Resources Committee, he has launched his attack on America's Natural Heratige in earnest.
"In preparation for legislative changes, Pombo Tuesday released a report, "Implementation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973," prepared at his request by the House Resources Committee's Oversight and Investigations staff.
The Endangered Species Act has a 99 percent failure rate because only 13 species have fully recovered and have been delisted from protection, the report contends."
This of course is absolute bullshit.
While the intent of the ESA is to recover species, the real role it plays is to keep species from going extinct. It serves as the emergency room for rare species whose habitat is being destroyed by developers, timber companies, mining interests, etc... (All big supporters of Mr. Pombo by the way.)
The Endangered Species Act, signed into law by that Radical Environmentalist Richard Nixon, is the cornerstone of American conservation. Without it we might as well pave over everthing.
Here are the facts:
The Bush administration has listed fewer species than any recent administration, and only when orderd to by the courts. They hate this law.
Bush II: 32 species listed (all under court order)
Clinton: 512 species listed
Bush I: 234 species listed
One of the ways the Republicans keep species from being listed is by starving the biological departments of the agencies that do the research the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. If there is no money for science, there are no problems with vanishing speices, right?
By undefunding the agencies, species are put in a holding tank where they are given no protection at all. Currently 286 species are sitting in the waiting room of the ESA emergency room with little chance they will ever see a doctor. And that's the way the Republicans like it. Starve the beasts.
"Most of these species have been waiting for years to receive protection and the Bush Administration has made little progress towards providing protection to them, conservationists say.
On average, these 286 species have been waiting for protection for over 17 years. Since the ESA was enacted in 1973, at least 27 species have gone extinct after designation as a candidate for listing, since candidate status offers no protection to species or their habitat."
The reality is that the main problem with the ESA are that it is treated so badly by right-wing congressmen and an administration that will not let this law do it's work.
Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife said, "Of the more than 1,800 species under the Act's protections, only nine have been declared extinct, a 99 percent success rate."
The ESA Works. The time has come to fully fund it.
Learn more about this issue here
Join the fight to save what remains of America's natural heritage here www.stopextiction.org
Learn more about Richard Pombo's corrupt dealings with special interests here
UPDATE: Former Fish & Wildlife Head Warns Senate Against Weakening Species Protection - Testimony Here